i mean really? the farmer doesn't want the fox to get in the henhouse because he knows what'll happen. but then the fox says to the farmer, "hey, don't judge me by what my brothers have done. just let me in and THEN judge me."

kinda sounds familiar... "we have to pass it to find out what's in it."

The Hill reported after tonight's vote. "Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him."

Oh yay. Good to know our Senators are looking out for the interests of the public by ensuring that the people assigned to oversee our communications systems are not going to impact their slimy campaign ads...

As we described in a previous article, Wheeler has received high marks from AT&T and Comcast.

That should have been enough to disqualify him from public service.

Quote:

Gigi Sohn, CEO of advocacy group Public Knowledge, said, "We expect that [Wheeler] will work to preserve a strong FCC that will ensure an open, universally accessible, and affordable communications system that serves all Americans."

What, in the long history of corruption, collusion, and human greed would lead you to expect that?

I'll be surprised if this guy is anything but the industry plant he appears to be. I do like surprises though.

Washington is such a long running joke; big corp/content comes in and steers while the government is pushing on the gas instead of the breaks. You either work for the government and then go work for the big corp/content or you work in big corp/content then go work for the government. I won't expect many consumer first/friendly policies, yet I do see more pro corp/content policies being crafted.

Gigi Sohn, CEO of advocacy group Public Knowledge, said, "We expect that [Wheeler] will work to preserve a strong FCC that will ensure an open, universally accessible, and affordable communications system that serves all Americans."

What, in the long history of corruption, collusion, and human greed would lead you to expect that?

I'll be surprised if this guy is anything but the industry plant he appears to be. I do like surprises though.

PK probably thought an honest statement would be perceived as negative and/or combatitive.

If it were me, I'd've probably phrased it more neutrally so I didn't have to reverse sentiments once he does something like allow cable companies to require sexual favors for service. (Which would bring an even more annoying meaning to "We need to dispatch a tech to check your outlets.".)

Ted Cruz is the one pushing government integrity? Excuse me while I whap myself with a hammer and adjust my vibrational frequency. I'm from a wonderful universe where he's a joke.

No matter how different his motives were from mine, I have to agree that Ted Cruz was doing the right thing questioning his approval. What I glean from this story alone is that no one else even had 1! objection? That just doesn't make sense. No conflict of interest??

I'm the type of person that likes to give people the benefit of the doubt but for some reason I am compelled to buy AT&T stock.

Ted Cruz is the one pushing government integrity? Excuse me while I whap myself with a hammer and adjust my vibrational frequency. I'm from a wonderful universe where he's a joke.

No matter how different his motives were from mine, I have to agree that Ted Cruz was doing the right thing questioning his approval. What I glean from this story alone is that no one else even had 1! objection? That just doesn't make sense. No conflict of interest??

I'm the type of person that likes to give people the benefit of the doubt but for some reason I am compelled to buy AT&T stock.

Too bad he was ok with things as soon as he was told that his source of money wouldn't be drying up.

This stuff has started to reach the level of comical absurdity. And for some reason, no one seems to care unless they see it on Fox News.

Ted Cruz is the one pushing government integrity? Excuse me while I whap myself with a hammer and adjust my vibrational frequency. I'm from a wonderful universe where he's a joke.

No matter how different his motives were from mine, I have to agree that Ted Cruz was doing the right thing questioning his approval. What I glean from this story alone is that no one else even had 1! objection? That just doesn't make sense. No conflict of interest??

I'm the type of person that likes to give people the benefit of the doubt but for some reason I am compelled to buy AT&T stock.

Initially I had the same response as you. Then I read:

"Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him."

So Cruz's only objection was fear that Wheeler might want people to be held accountable for their political donations? Perhaps the worst possible reason to oppose a nomination. I don't know whether to be more appalled at Cruz for essentially lobbying to protect big money, or the rest of congress for not making a peep.

And apparently the people know it, because the congressional approval rating has been reported earlier this month to be in the range 5-11%. That's right, one poll reported as low as 5%.

Tom Wheeler will take over as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission after receiving unanimous approval by the Senate today.

Wheeler, a venture capitalist and former head of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), was nominated by President Obama in April.

A vote on his confirmation "was delayed for two weeks by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who expressed concern about Wheeler's views on political disclosure rules," The Hill reported after tonight's vote. "Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him."

Ted Cruz is the one pushing government integrity? Excuse me while I whap myself with a hammer and adjust my vibrational frequency. I'm from a wonderful universe where he's a joke.

Don't knock Ted Cruz. He is a very principled man who will go to almost any lengths to fight for what he believes in. Just look at his performance on the floor of the United States Senate. He was even willing to embarrass himself by reading Dr. Seuss into the Congressional Record in a retroactive filibuster against a law passed 3 years ago. What a guy.

When their donations are on the line, they manage somehow to get along just fine.

It's representative democracy as we know it, where the people choose public spirited folks, who are corrupt or at least corruptible, and send them to the capitol cities to be bribed by or, after casting the right votes, get hired for very high paying jobs by the guys who really run things.

Ted Cruz is the one pushing government integrity? Excuse me while I whap myself with a hammer and adjust my vibrational frequency. I'm from a wonderful universe where he's a joke.

No matter how different his motives were from mine, I have to agree that Ted Cruz was doing the right thing questioning his approval. What I glean from this story alone is that no one else even had 1! objection? That just doesn't make sense. No conflict of interest??

I'm the type of person that likes to give people the benefit of the doubt but for some reason I am compelled to buy AT&T stock.

It seems that you're both missing the point. As noted in the story, "Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him."

So Cruz's objection was that even the lobbyist guy might not value the dark obscurity of political campaign funding (let's call it pre-bribery) highly enough. Great.

Ted Cruz is the one pushing government integrity? Excuse me while I whap myself with a hammer and adjust my vibrational frequency. I'm from a wonderful universe where he's a joke.

No matter how different his motives were from mine, I have to agree that Ted Cruz was doing the right thing questioning his approval. What I glean from this story alone is that no one else even had 1! objection? That just doesn't make sense. No conflict of interest??

I'm the type of person that likes to give people the benefit of the doubt but for some reason I am compelled to buy AT&T stock.

It seems that you're both missing the point. As noted in the story, "Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him."

So Cruz's objection was that even the lobbyist guy might not value the dark obscurity of political campaign funding (let's call it pre-bribery) highly enough. Great.

I like this term "pre-bribery". It has all the connotations of dishonesty and graft, without quite being slander. We should use it more often.

"Cruz lifted his objection after Wheeler assured him in a private meeting Tuesday that tougher disclosure requirements for the donors behind political TV ads are 'not a priority' for him."

Wow, what a revelation! I would have thought such a Tea Party stalwart would welcome tougher disclosure. It would show that his support base was wide and varied, of the people, etc. That sort of thing.

The only reason I could think of for objecting to tougher disclosure, would be if you walked around claiming to have a mandate from "the people", but were in fact being bankrolled and supported by a bunch of super rich puppet-masters.